CORBY TECHNICAL SCHOOL

ISSUE 2 May 2013 NEWS www.corbytechnicalschool.org

New School Building BUILDING WORK HAS BEGUN ON OUR NEW SCHOOL BUILDING.

Over the past few weeks the ground has been Principal Angela Reynolds said: “The new building will be excavated, foundations dug and the steel frame is now fantastic and one that our students will love to learn in. going into place. It is great to see construction work start and we cannot The two storey school will house faculties situated in wait to move in. The new building will mean that we can wings, together with a sports hall, technology area, develop our technical curriculum to its full potential.” library and theatre. At the sod cutting ceremony building contractor Mansell Designed to cater for 475 pupils, the building will Balfour Beatty presented a model JCB and stainless steel feature glass-fronted classrooms that accommodate shovel, which will be engraved and displayed in the new smaller class sizes. school building. The theatre is being built due to a generous donation Ian Taylor, Delivery Unit Director at Balfour Beatty, said: from the Weston Foundation. “I am very excited to be able to deliver such a high Chief Executive of the Brooke Weston Trust Sir Peter profi le project that will give local young people fantastic Simpson did the honours of digging the fi rst sod at opportunities to establish their careers in the technical the launch ceremony to commence the building work. industry. I look forward to delivering this specialised He told our students: “This is a momentous day in the facility on time, within budget and to an extremely history of Corby Technical School. high standard.” “This new school building has been designed to allow CORBY you to explore every inch of your technical abilities. “It represents the great investment in schools in the Technical Corby area and will add to the already impressive group School of secondary schools in the town.” infinite paths to choose from...

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This Spring newsletter shows just what a the construction process is also featuring busy few months we have had since the in students’ learning. We have had start of the year. assemblies from staff at Mansell Balfour Our students have been taking part in Beatty, students have been on site visits various challenges aimed at expanding and lessons have even been formed their technical skills and those who have around the maths elements of the build. represented the school at different events As we move into the summer term I across the county have done us proud. would congratulate students on how Special mention must go to the team well they have settled in and their overall who came third in the Rotary Club’s behaviour and attitude. When our new Technology Challenge (read more on p5) Year 7 starts in August, our current and congratulations to Scott and Aidan students will become the head year of who have won the fi rst sporting trophy the school and I am sure they are up to for our cabinet (p6). the task. Other exciting news is that work is progressing at a furious pace on our new Angela Reynolds school building. The steel frames have Principal now gone up and an added bonus is that

Amazing Science Students attempted to break a series of world records when they attended the Amazing Science Live show at the Derngate Theatre in February.

They took part in gurning Interesting fact - The individual competitions, a whoop fest and who holds the most Guinness staff members Victoria Khan World Records is Mr Ashrita and Mark Dodsworth even stuck Furman. He is attempting and people to a wall using masking breaking records all the time, tape during the two hour show. but at last count he had more Unfortunately no records were than 125 current Guinness World broken, but students had a great Records titles. Those include time trying. the records for long-distance Rebecca was invited on stage to pogo-stick jumping, most glasses attempt to break the World Record balanced on the chin, most hop- for the number of revolutions on scotch games in 24 hours and an offi ce chair. fastest time to pogo-stick up the She said: “I was picked to go up CN Tower. after shouting the loudest. It was fun but I didn’t manage to break the record.” www.corbytechnicalschool.org 2 Information 3 New Web Pages We have set up a new curriculum area on our school website. Situated under the Student Information section, we now have a dedicated page for Maths, Science and English. Here students will be able to access key information about the subject area as well as fi nd links to subject related websites and competitions. Uniform for new Year 7s A uniform evening is being held on Tuesday, June 4 for parents/carers of students who will begin Year 7 in September. The event runs from 4pm to 6pm and our uniform suppliers will be present to help parents with uniform selection. There will be a collection event on Monday, July 15th from 4pm to 6pm and a uniform swap service commences from August 19th. A list of the uniform requirements is listed under the Parent Information section of our website.

Absence reporting We would ask that parents/carers make sure SCHOOL NUMBER FOR REPORTING that they report their child’s absence by 8.15am. Parents/carers should call the school number to do this 01536 213100 (option 1) and (option 1) we ask that a phone call is made each day of 01536 213100 the absence.

TERM DATES The term dates for the remainder of this academic year are: TERM DATES FOR 2012-2013 Term 4: Monday 18th March to Friday 10th May Update on Term 5: Tuesday 28th May to Friday 19th July new school build TERM DATES 2013-14 The steel frame is being erected for our Term 1: Monday 19th Aug - Friday 11th October new school. Term 2: Monday 28th Oct - Friday 20th December Construction staff are progressing furiously with Term 3: Monday 6th Jan - Fri 28th February the work and we cannot wait to move into our new home. Term 4: Monday 17th March - Friday 9th May Term 5: Tuesday 27 May - Friday 18th Jul (Monday 28th May Bank Holiday)

www.corbytechnicalschool.org Technical news

Motorcycle master class is a Triumph Students were given an insight into the world of motorcycle design during a visit by engineers from the country’s biggest motorbike manufacturer. Senior Design Engineers from Triumph, Dave Child and Matt Silk, had the students enthralled during the visit as they explained the process of designing a motorcycle from scratch, before letting the students try out Toyota STEM the Trophy touring bike they had bought along. As well as a selection of parts which students were asked to identify, there was also a Daytona Challenge 675 which was cut in half, allowing the students to see the inner workings of the bike, aspects of the frame and engine that they would After a hard fought battle, the winners not otherwise have seen. of our in-house challenge to build a solar powered car have been crowned. During the two-hour master class the students learned about how a motorbike is conceived, designed, manufactured and then sold. Robert, Dmitrijs, Jake, Aaron and Declan were the students from winning The engineers also spoke about what studies they had undertaken to team Ripper that lifted the title. enable them to become enter their chosen career fi eld. As part of the challenge all teams had David Child told the students: “ If you like Science and Maths then to research, plan and then build their engineering is a good career to go into. “On a daily basis we are asked own solar powered car using recycled to problem solve and get to work on things we enjoy, and in a job you materials. They spent a number of just can’t beat that. Engineering includes a wide range of disciplines and weeks during the Wednesday STEM there are so many things that you can get involved in.” afternoons, engineering their creation Director of Science, Victoria Khan said: “It is important that our students before entering into a race against the are given the opportunity to see that the theory they study in school three other teams in the competition. directly relates to the jobs people do, involving Science, Technology, The ‘Ripper’ car was pronounced the Engineering and Maths (STEM). best after travelling 8 metres in a time Student Nicole Edgar said: “It was so interesting and I have learned a of fi ve seconds. huge amount. I did not realise just how much work goes into the design The students will now spend some of a motorbike.” time fi ne tuning their vehicle before The master class was part of the weekly STEM (Science, entering it along with a project folder Technology, Engineering and Maths) sessions. into the Toyota STEM Challenge. 4 Technical news 5 Design and Technology Challenge

Class 7C reigned victorious in an make into deckchairs frame and inter-form design and technology then include a deckchair seat. team challenge. Sam, of 7C said: “Oddly, what I Our three classes of Year 7 students enjoyed most about the project was were pitted against each other in how frantic it was. It was great to the challenge which required them work as part of a team and work in to make 12 identical mini deckchairs the different sections.” from scratch. The project was At the end of the two- lesson event aimed at introducing the students 7C had completed eight fi nished to making products in batches identical deckchairs, which meant and assembling themselves into a they were crowned the winners. production line. Mrs Reynolds said: “The key to the Principal Angela Reynolds said: success of 7C was that they came “The students were given a brief up with the idea of putting together and some raw materials, then a jig, so that they did not have to with very little guidance they were measure every single piece of wood. required to organise themselves This was the idea of Sean and Josh, and make the product. and was copied throughout 7C, so “They delegated a manager and that the process ran smoothly. This then split themselves into teams was quite an advanced concept and then discussed how they would for their age group and I was really set about making the product.” pleased with how the teams did.” The students were given some pieces of wood which they had to

Technology Tournament 2013 A team of our students pitted transport a 20gm weight. Building Manager Ian Fullerton, who their technical skills against pupils The team, which was competing at went along with the students to the from across the county when the foundation level (for students event said: “I was really impressed they took part in the Rotary Club’s in Year 7 to 9), set about designing with how well they worked as a Technology Tournament. the vehicle on paper before using team and the thought they put into Ollie, Charlie, Jess and Robbie the provided materials to construct the design. The judges commented took part in the event held their car. on the way they had positioned the at Weston Favell Academy on Charlie said: “It defi nitely helped slide on the vehicle as this helped Wednesday, March 20th and did that we come from a Technical propel it along”. themselves proud by coming third School as we take part in weekly in their category. challenges in our Stem afternoon The event was organised by the sessions and this practical Rotary Club of Nene Valley in experience really helped us.” association with the University of Robbie added: “We had come Northampton as part of National across all of the tools provided Science and Technology Week. before so this saved time.” After arriving at their destination, After three hours of build time the students– who called the team put their wooden vehicle themselves the Speedy Cheetahs to the test and discovered it could - were tasked with the challenge travel 18 inches while carrying of building a vehicle that could the weight. Sports news

Aidan (left) and Scott with their trophy Trophy from Winter School Games We have had a good degree of Scott said: “It was great to win the competed in the indoor athletics success in the Winter School trophy, which we will be sharing event at The Kingswood School. Games. with the Prince William students. They took part in running and fi eld Teams of students have been We did not expect to win but it was events and the Girls’ team made it competing in a number of different an exciting race.” through to the county stage. sports against schools from Corby, Sports teacher Louise Feeley, who Special mention goes to student Kettering and Oundle and have has been coaching the students Christabel who won her sprint showed sporting prowess. across a number of disciplines for events. The student is a member of In the boys rowing fi nal held in the Winter Sports games, said: “The Corby Athletics Club and trains with March, students Scott and Aidan students did really well, especially the sprint team. rowed their way to success and as they were paired with students The Winter School Games is a picked up a glittering trophy for they had not worked with before.” national competition which has their efforts. Christabel and Natalie came in third been set up as part of the legacy of They paired with a couple of older in their race, after pairing with two the Olympics. students from Prince William School Year 9 students from our sister in the event, which took place over school Brooke Weston Academy. a 2012 metre distance. On February 7th 15 students

Students have been taking part in our Table Tennis Club after school on Tuesdays. Each week we hold a mini round robin competition and students Declan and Scott have been faring very well. 6 Other news 7

New Build Inspires Technical Learning The building of our new school inspired a STEM afternoon this term. The construction process moved into the classroom as site manager Mark Williams explained to students the early stage of the build, focusing on the foundations. He explained that holes are dug and then concrete bolt boxes are inserted into the ground to bear the load of the steel frame of the building. Students were able to go out onto the site to witness the process in action. They were then tasked with determining which soils were best for load bearing. Director of Science Victoria Khan said: “It is very helpful to link theory to the real world and students were able to use what they were shown on the building site to solve practical problems posed in the classroom. Other parts of the task included using maths, science and technology to determine the size and cost of the foundations. Interesting fact – one cubic metre of concrete weighs the same as two ford fi estas.

IPADS in action Our bank of ipads have now become a fi rm fi xture in lessons and are being used to enhance learning in a number of ways. Students have used them to record interviews, create fi lms, for research on topics, to design graphics and to put together presentations for assemblies. Miss Gaunt’s class used the tablets as part of a topic on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Aidan, decided to put together a graphic story board and used the Ipad to create a synopsis of the Bard’s work. Residential

School supports community charity Corby Technical School has soon to deliver the food and fi nd Corby Foodbank was set up in established a community link with out more about how the charity March 2012 and since June has the Corby Foodbank charity. works. The students will the report helped more than 700 families. Students have been donating back to the whole school during Run by volunteers, it provides non-perishable food for the charity, assembly time.” three-day emergency parcels which distributes food to needy Students Shannon and Ollie have to families in need. It operates families in the town. donated. three days a week from its English Teacher Cathy Gaunt said: Ollie said: “I did not even know that premises in Princewood Road “I gave an assembly on the subject there was Foodbank in Corby. It is from 10am to 3pm and if you of community and we talked about important to help out as you don’t would like to help in anyway the foodbank and the response want people to go hungry and call 01536 737578. from the students has been there are lots of families out there incredible. “A group of students and who need these food parcels.” myself will be visiting the foodbank Musical Excellence Congratulations to Kara who has passed her Grade 1 piano exam with a distinction. Kara, has been playing the instrument for one year and has hopes to become a professional. She said: “Playing the piano makes me really happy. I was inspired by a former music teacher and enjoy my lessons.” Matthew Takes to the Stage Matthew will be treading the boards has previously acted in primary in a production of a West End school productions and sung Classic. with a choir. The student will be donning rags He said: “I went for an audition and eating gruel when he joins and sang Consider Yourself. I was the gang of orphans and delighted when I found out I had a pickpockets in Oliver. part as a workhouse boy. The production is being staged “I can’t wait for it to start.” by the Corby Amateur Theatrical Matthew is currently rehearsing Society (CATS) at the Corby Cube every Sunday and hopes the role will from May 29th to June 1st. be a step on his way to following in This will be the fi rst big stage the footsteps of his favourite actors performance by the student who David Tennant and Matt Smith.

Corby Technical School Cottingham Road, Corby, NN17 1TD www.corbytechnicalschool.org